1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a bend radius control fixture for use in guiding and controlling cables. In particular, the invention relates to a modular bend radius control fixture that can be readily changed to any of a number of configurations, allowing adaptation to wire management needs as they change. The invention is particularly suited for use in managing telecommunication system wiring.
2. Description of Related Art
Cabling is increasingly used in the telecommunications industry to provide data, voice, video, or audio information, as well as power. Such cabling may include various combinations of traditional metal-based wiring, such as copper cables for distributing power or audio, as well as category 5 or 6 cables with reduced cross-talk, or fiber optic cabling. These latter two types of cabling are relied upon to transmit large qualities of information and are sensitive to cable placement and orientation. Cable racks and enclosure systems have been provided to manage and organize such cables to or from equipment or cross-connect systems. These enclosure systems usually include a standard EIA 19xe2x80x3 or 23xe2x80x3 distribution frame rack, on which one or more enclosures are rack mounted. Such racks provide a system for managing high density fiber connections between a backbone and horizontal cabling, such as a raceway system. These racks also serve as inter-connect or cross-connect enclosures when interfacing with equipment or may serve as a telecommunications closet, allowing the cables such as fiber cables to be terminated, spliced, patched or stored at places along their length. Enclosures within the rack serve various functions, including operation as slack trays, splice trays, and cable organizers.
As needs for such cabling increase, the density requirements of each rack or enclosure increase. This results in increased demand for a good cable management system, particularly at points of termination or interconnection, as such systems have to accommodate a growing number of cables. Good cable management is particularly necessary in the case of fiber optic cables or category 5 or 6 cables, which have strict requirements for bend radius control to ensure adequate transmission of signal through the cable. Such cables have a low tolerance for bending and are subject to breakage or distortion of the signal if the bend is too severe. As such, it is critical for there to be adequate mechanisms provided to ensure that cable routing does not result in cable bends greater than design constraints. Moreover, such routing should efficiently guide cables toward the next connection element.
Various bend radius control devices have been provided to accommodate such problems. However, to date, such control devices have been designed as single unit devices that operate independently and work best for one or only a handful of cable configurations. As such, either a lot of different specific devices have to be built or purchased to accommodate a wide variety of cabling needs, or a more generic bend radius control fixture has to be provided that is designed to generally work with multiple cable needs. Such control fixtures thus either result in fixture manufacturers having to design, sell and market a large number of specific bend radius control fixtures, which also results in the end user having to stock a large number of such fixtures to meet needs, or a bend radius control fixture is used for applications it is not really suitable for, resulting in adequate or inferior cable management. Inadequate cable management can result in inferior cable signals or down time of the system diagnosing or repairing bad cable lines.
There is a need for a bend radius control fixture that is readily configurable to meet various cable management needs.
There also is a need for a modular bend radius control fixture that can handle all of the guiding and horizontal or vertical bend radius control needs of any rack or cable management system.
There further is a need for such a bend radius control fixture that can have a simple and effective mounting system for attaching various components of the fixture together.
There also is a need for such a bend radius control fixture mounting system that allows simple mounting of the fixture to a rack or enclosure, such as a ladder, rack.
It is an object of the invention to provide a bend radius control fixture that is flexible and can be readily adapted to individualized cable management needs of a particular enclosure system.
It is another object of the invention to provide a bend radius control fixture that is capable of addressing both horizontal and vertical bend radius requirements.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a simple mounting structure for mounting various components of the fixture together and for mounting the fixture to a rack or enclosure.
The above and other objects are achieved by providing a modular bend radius control fixture for guiding cabling, comprising: a main section having a curved surface with a predetermined radius that provides a first bend radius control surface and side walls; and a side plate section removably mounted to the side walls of the main section, the side plate section having a side wall that extends beyond the curved surface, wherein the modular bend radius control fixture is removably mountable to a cable management enclosure.
These objects and others are also achieved by providing a reconfigurable modular bend radius control fixture system for guiding cabling, comprising: at least one main section having a curved surface with a predetermined radius that provides a first bend radius control surface and side walls; at least one straight side plate section removably mountable to the side walls of the main section, the side plate section having a side wall that extends beyond the curved surface when mounted; and at least one bend radius control side plate removably mountable to the side walls of the main section, the bend radius control side plate section forming a second bend radius control surface, wherein combinations of the at least one main section, the at least one straight side plate section, and the at least one bend radius control side section can be assembled to form a customized bend radius control fixture mountable on a cable management enclosure.